Blog Archives - The Streatham Society

Magdalen Hospital

27/11/2021

On This Day 27 November 1869 the Architect and Contract Reporter contained the following :

The Magdalen Hospital is the oldest institution of its kind, was founded in 1758 and has hitherto been located in the Blackfriars Road. For many years the removal of the institution from the Blackfriars Road has been moored, but the Governors shrank from so serious and expensive an undertaking until concurrent circumstances shoul seem to render it imperative.

In 1863 HM Charity Commissioner's made a careful inquiry into the working of the institution, which resulted in a recommendation that the Governors should take early steps to remove the same to a healthy suburban situation, and then dispose of the buildings and site. Six acres of land were bought in the Laingham Court Road West (Drewstead Road) and the present hospital has been erected thereon.
The building is designed to accomodate 140 penitents with a central administrative department, a detached infirmary, chaplains house and chapel

In arranging the plan the idea has been to separate and classify the inmates as much as possible, giving to each ward of 15 its distinct occupation in all domestic duties such as cooking, washing etc. The multiplication of kitchen and laundry arrangements has necessarily added to the cost, but the system was considered to be so advantageous that the Governors have not hesitated to carry it into effect

Source Architecture in London

Professor Robert Bartlett

27/11/2021

On This Day 27 November 1950 Professor Robert Bartlett was born in Streatham- the family lived at 21 Salford Road

Robert Bartlett, CBE, FBA, FRSE is an English historian and medievalist. He currently holds the position of Wardlaw Professor of Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews.

After attending Battersea Grammar School in Streatham (1962 to 1969), he studied at Peterhouse, Cambridge, St John's College, Oxford and Princeton University as a Jane Eliza Procter Visiting Fellow
In 2010, he wrote and presented The Normans on the BBC, a documentary series about their wide-ranging impact on Britain, countries of the Mediterranean and as far afield as the Holy Land.

In 2014, he presented the BBC documentary series The Plantagenets, about the eponymous royal dynasty.

November 26th, 2021

26/11/2021

Professor Trevor William Robbins FRS was born On This Day 26th November 1949. He attended Battersea Grammar in Abbotswood Road and Jesus College Cambridge

Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and Head of the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge.

Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, and the Royal Society. He has published over 600 peer-reviewed papers and 70 chapters in scientific journals and has co-edited 6 books.

Robbins a keen chess player, represented both England Juniors in 1967 and the University of Cambridge as an undergraduate. He was once ranked in the top twenty players in England. His 1970 Varsity match was featured on 1 March 2015 in the Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chess-fbj3673pzk0

The 150th anniversary book by Martin Smith of the Streatham and Brixton Chess Club covers Trevor Robbins and other players from BGS

Air Vice-Marshal John Chegwyn Thomas Downey

26/11/2021

Air Vice-Marshal John Chegwyn Thomas Downey, CB, DFC, AFC was born On This Day 26 November 1920, a senior commander in the Royal Air Force born at 151 Gleneldon Road

Telegraph obituary extracts 2 May 2010
Downey was born at Streatham on November 26 1920 and educated at Whitgift. On leaving school he immediately volunteered for pilot training with the RAF, gaining his wings just before his 19th birthday.
He spent the early days of the war flying Ansons on patrols over the North Sea before leaving for Gibraltar in September 1941 to join No 202 Squadron, whose Catalinas had the job of preventing enemy shipping and submarines from entering the Mediterranean and of monitoring the Vichy French Fleet in Algerian ports.

After a series of appointments as an instructor, in May 1944 Downey joined No 224 Squadron. With D-Day imminent, the squadron concentrated on cutting the transit routes in and out of the French Atlantic ports. In September Downey and his crews moved to Milltown in Morayshire, and turned their attention to the Norwegian coast.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his 224 Squadron service.
Downey commanded Aries III, a modified Lincoln bomber, when it took off on October 20 1950 on a round-the-world flight of 29,000 miles.

The Lincoln took 14 hours 26 minutes to reach Khartoum – a record that stood for five years until beaten by a Comet airliner. Downey then headed for Mauritius before taking off on a direct flight to Perth, Western Australia; this was believed to be the first west-to-east non-stop flight across the Indian Ocean. After crossing Australia, Aries III headed over the Pacific for the United States, arriving back in England after a flight that had lasted a total of 28 days. Downey was awarded an AFC

Our #ThrowbackThursday for this week is a picture of "Beclands" Tooting Bec Gardens, Streatham

25/11/2021

(Photo courtesy Kevin Kelly)

Robert Measures who lived next door at "Woodlands" was an Iron Merchant. A world expert in Orchids and he built 31 greenhouses and employed 14 gardeners.

Robert Measures gifted "Beclands" to his son Herbert James Thomas Measures. He also donated the land on which the Roman Catholic Church of the English Martyrs was erected and a substantial sum towards the building cost (John W Brown)

Maurice William Holt Miles and Wayland of Streatham

25/11/2021

Maurice William Holt Miles died On This Day 25th November 1918 and is buried at West Norwood Cemetery. He lived at 15 Hopton Road and 11 Pinfold Road and was baptised at St Leonard's 18 March 1893

An interesting article on Maurice Miles by John Brown in the Streatham Society Newsletter https://www.streathamsociety.org.uk/.../summer_2017.pdf . https://www.streathamsociety.org.uk/newsletters.html Summer 2017

He was photographed by Victorian Photographers Wayland

MAURICE WH MILES
The recent discovery of a late Victorian photograph of a young boy apparently sitting amid ships rigging, creating the impression the picture was taken in the crow’s nest of a ship, has helped to reveal the fascinating story of his life. The legend under the photograph shows that it was taken by one of Streatham’s early photographers, David Wayland, who was born in 1851 and set up his studio in Streatham at 71 Streatham High Road in 1893.

Around 1905 David’s brother, Henry Robert Douglas Wayland, took over the business and relocated it to Regina House at 186 Streatham High Road, where it occupied an imposing corner premises at the southern junction of Becmead Avenue in a building now occupied by Lloyds Bank. Wayland was one of the first photographers in Streatham to have electric light installed in his studio and this caused some sensation in 1908 when it was considered a most innovative means of lighting.

The Wayland brothers were often commissioned to take photographs of the most eminent of Streatham’s inhabitants, including local VIPs such as the Mayor of Wandsworth. There were three brothers and, in addition to their Streatham studio, they operated studios at Sutton and Blackheath.

The photograph of the young boy in the rigging shows the skill with which Wayland would compose his subjects and he promoted his studio as one which specialised in taking photographs of children. As normal, the reverse of the card on which the photograph is mounted shows details of the Wayland Studio where it was taken, in addition to which someone has helpfully recorded the name of the boy featured in the picture together with his age and the year the picture was taken.

From these inscriptions we know the boy was Maurice WH Miles, who was 4 years and three months old when the picture was published in 1897. By a strange twist of fate we know quite a bit of information about Maurice as copies of his military records during the First World War are contained in the collection of Streatham military material held by Streatham Society member Colin Crocker and Andrew Hadden.

For many decades Colin and Andrew have been collecting material relating to the local history of Streatham, especially that relating to members of the armed forces. Some years ago they acquired a badge known as a World War One Silver War Badge, sometimes referred to as a Silver Wound Badge. This badge was awarded to injured members of the armed forces who were discharged due to their injuries. By wearing the badge the public would recognise the holder as an injured member of the armed forces who had served King and Country and would not challenge them for not having done their duty in joining the army or navy. The badge shows King George V’s cypher plus the words ‘For King and Empire - Services Rendered’. By a strange coincidence the badge had been awarded to Maurice Miles and when Andrew and Colin acquired it they also obtained copies of some of his war records from which we are able to piece together information about his life.

Maurice William Holt Miles was born in Streatham on 27th December 1892. He was the son of William Miles, a publican, later to become a newspaper manager, who lived at 15 Hopton Road, Streatham, with his wife Gertrude, his sister Clara, his daughter and two servants, a cook and nursery maid. Maurice was baptised at St. Anselm’s Church, Coventry Park, on 18th March 1893. He at tended Merchant Taylors School and at the time of the First World War he was training to be a surgeon at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London.

At the commencement of the war in 1914 he volunteered for service and went to France as a dresser in the Royal Army Medical Corps (R.A.M.C.). He later saw service with the Indian Medical Service, serving aboard the Hospital Ships Glengorm Castle, Guildford Castle and Sicilia. He also served in India, Egypt and the Dardanelles. It was while serving in the East that he contracted malaria and dysentery. He was subsequently invalided out of the army and resigned from the Indian Medical Service in March 1916 so that he could return to the UK to finish his medical studies.

While serving on the Indian Hospital Ship, the Guildford Castle, during an incident in which the ship sank, Maurice had received an injury to his foot and when he was at Blackpool training as a Lieutenant in the R.A.M.C., septic poisoning infected his big toe. He was sent to Manchester Hospital for treatment and was later admitted to St. Thomas’s Hospital in London where part of his toe was amputated. Maurice continued his medical training and qualified as a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons in January 1917. The following month he was appointed to the Royal Army Medical Corps Special Reserve.

In May 1917, whilst serving at Blackpool, he reported sick with pyrexia and possible tuberculosis. Sadly his weakened condition led him to resign his com- mission on 17th August 1918 through ill health and he returned to his family home then at 11 Pinfold Road, Streatham. It was there, a few months later, where he died on 25th November 1918, after having succumbed to an attack of influenza and pneumonia which his weakened condition did not enable him to withstand.

Because Maurice did not die on active service he is not commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. However, his name is recorded on the Streatham Roll of Honour and on St. Leonard’s Church War Memorial.

In addition to having all this information about Maurice there is another fascinating twist to the tale to reveal. As well as the original photograph of Maurice already referred to, in the collection of old cabinet photographs and cartes de viste (CDVs) held by myself, Kevin Kelly, Colin Crocker and Andrew Hadden, and from copies obtained from the internet by Dave Clark, there is another picture of Maurice taken at the Wayland Studios in Streatham in 1894 when he was one year old. We know this to be so for these details are recorded on the reverse of the second picture in the same handwriting as that used on the first picture.

But the surprises do not end there; for also in our collections are copies of three other photographs of a young boy taken at the Wayland Studio who has an uncanny likeness to Maurice and appear to have been taken at some time between the two other photographs, possibly when he was around 3 years of age. Al- though none of these photographs have any inscription on the reverse, the likeness of the young boy featured on them is so similar to that of Maurice as to leave little doubt it could possibly be the same boy.
John W Brown.
https://www.streathamsociety.org.uk/.../summer_2017.pdf

Freedom of the City of London papers and University of London OTC record below

Alfred Gosheron on "Normancroft"

25/11/2021

This appeared in the papers On This Day 25 November 1938 detailing the estate of Alfred Gosheron. He left £59,922 and lived at Normancroft, Garrad's Road which today is Broomwood School.

Alfred and Elsie May Gosheron lived at "Normancroft" in Garrad's Road built in the block between Woodbourne Avenue and Mount Ephraim Lane.

The House was built in 1920 and Alfred was a builder born in London in 1873. Elsie was born in 1869 in Southwark. In 1901 the family including a daughter, Muriel, were living at 6 Princess Road, South Norwood

*The Architect of "Normancroft" was Ernest Allen and at the time the house was built the Gosheron family lived at 51 Drewstead Road, Streatham. *
Alfred was granted Freedom of the City of London 20 May 1924. His father Robert was a Licensed Victualler
Alfred died (aged 66) 20 September 1938 in Angmering where he spent the summer, survived by Elsie with an estate of £59,922 18s 7d. The chief mourners at the funeral were Derek Gosheron (son) and Mr and Mrs Quinton (son in law and Daughter)

Plan courtesy Sarah Wilden and Lambeth Archives

Alfred Pickard

24/11/2021

Alfred Barnes Pickard died On This Day 24th November 1928 leaving an estate of £39k
An engineer involved in the construction of the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre built on surplus railway land

With fellow associates at Earl's Court became a director of Aerated Bread Company's Concessions
Pickard lived at a number of Streatham locations including 49 Kempshott, 5 Madeira Road, 18 Streatham Common South and 42 Rycroft Road where he died

John Sangster

24/11/2021

John Sangster was born On This Day 24th November 1811

The Sangster family were umbrella makers and lived at the "Paragon" in Streatham Hill. Samuel founded the company in 1777 and as early as 1786 was trading from Fleet Street. His sons William and John took over the business from their father.

The brothers called one their umbrellas 'The Paragon"

The company supplied umbrellas to the Royal Family and operated from 4 West End locations

Paragon advertisement in C. Dickens, Bleak House, 1852

John Massingberd

23/11/2021

John Massingberd a wealthy merchant died On This Day 23 November 1653. Lived in "Broadwaters" an ancient moated site, the Manor House of Tooting Bec. (John W Brown St Leonard's Streatham)
Massingberd Monument in St Leonard's Church

Here lyeth the body of John Massingbird Esquire who departed this life the XXIII of November MDCLIII leaving Caecilia his wife with two daughters Elizabeth and Mary the elder married some yeeres before to George Berkeley onely son of the Lord Berkeley the younger since to Robert Lord Willvghby eldest son of the Earle of Lyndsey.

Next Meeting

Our next event is a Zoom talk by Michael Morfey on the Manor of Norbury on Monday 29th November at 7:30pm. Booking essential via Eventbrite. The event is free

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